The following articles were undertaken at the request of the editors of McClure's Magazine, in which periodical they were first published. They represent an attempt to describe, in clear and accurate terms, the causes that led to the insurance scandals of 1905-06. Necessarily such an exposition took historical form, for the evils disclosed by the Armstrong Investigating Committee had existed for many years. Necessarily also, any adequate explanation involved a discussion of life-insurance principles, for it was the abandonment and perversion of sound life-insurance ideas that made possible the dishonest and extravagant use of life-insurance funds. The articles are republished in book form, practically as written, because they have been generally accepted, by both the professional and non-professional reader, as the most successful attempt made to elucidate a difficult subject, and because it is believed that they contain a large amount of historical material which has permanent value and which is unobtainable in any other form.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923.

The author died in 1949, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 60 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.